


Supermarket Sandwiches

by teaandabiccie



Category: One Piece
Genre: Gen, Homelessness, Hurt/Comfort, Injury, LITERALLY, Past Character Death, Zoro is a loyal dog
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2021-01-25
Updated: 2021-01-25
Packaged: 2021-03-17 07:27:48
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,864
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/28970574
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/teaandabiccie/pseuds/teaandabiccie
Summary: “Oh,” said Luffy, smoothing down Zoro’s ears and continuing to stroke down his neck. “You don’t have a home to go back to.”The dog’s head tilted downwards ever so slightly. Even so, he continued to meet Luffy’s gaze.Luffy closed his eyes, smiling at his new friend in spite of it all. “That’s okay. I don’t have a place to go home to either.”When he opened his eyes again, Zoro was still looking at him. The dog pushed the side of his face against Luffy’s hand.“We can be homeless together."-After Ace's death, Luffy finds himself kicked out of their apartment with nowhere to go and no way of making contact anybody else from home. But striking up an unlikely friendship with a stray dog over scavenged chicken drumsticks and supermarket sandwiches leads him to find a new family.
Relationships: Monkey D. Luffy & Mugiwara Kaizoku | Strawhat Pirates, Monkey D. Luffy & Roronoa Zoro, Monkey D. Luffy & Trafalgar D. Water Law
Comments: 10
Kudos: 52





	Supermarket Sandwiches

**Author's Note:**

> It is 2am and I have work tomorrow. I also have numerous WIPS. However, this idea wouldn't leave me alone so here we are.
> 
> This should be three chapters unless I have sudden inspiration to lengthen it and will include copious amounts of hurt/comfort.

Luffy laid in wait for the mailman, hands tucked away in the too-long sleeves of Ace’s old hoodie. The hood was large enough to go over his precious straw hat and stop the water running down the back of his neck but the front of the hat’s rim still stuck out into the driving rain. It shielded his eyes at the cost of its structural integrity and drooped, fat droplets of water periodically skimming the edge of Luffy’s nose.

There was a slight overhang by the front door of the building and Luffy pressed his back to the grimy wall to get as much benefit from it as possible. It didn’t help much.

By the time the mailman arrived, he was soaked to the skin and chilled to the bone.

“’S there anything for me today?” he asked as the man mounted the steps to the front door of the apartment complex

The mail man jumped, packages spilling from his arms. Luffy instinctively reached out to catch one that tumbled over the railing in his direction, frozen fingers fumbling with its smooth edges.

“Bloody hell, Luffy,” breathed the man as Luffy managed to save the package from a watery fate on the floor. “Warn a guy, won’t you?”

“I said hello,” said Luffy, holding the package towards him. He realised belatedly that he had not in fact remembered the greet the mailman, but it was out there now. It had been said and he was too cold to bother taking it back.

The mailman entered the code to the building’s communal post store and Luffy craned his neck to watch. His fingers were too fast; the numbers were lost to him instantly.

“Come on, I’ll have a look when we get out of this rain. What were you doing out here anyway?” said the mailman, stepping into the building. He held the door open for Luffy with his foot and Luffy scampered gratefully inside.

It wasn’t warm in the entranceway – it never had been. Their building was in a constant state of disrepair. The moment that one long-standing problem was fixed, another three problems had already risen to take its place. Grandpa had always insisted that the building really ought to be condemned and that Ace and Luffy both should hurry up and accept his offer of college tuition and military training so they could afford a place that was actually safe.

This place had been safe enough for them. Sorting out the numerous problems that had arisen in their tiny two-room apartment had been fun actually, an adventure. In any case, all they really needed was a roof, food, water and each other. They didn’t need some fancy place where the radiators in the post zone weren’t flaking forty years of paint on the floor despite never emitting any heat.

Luffy gravitated towards the radiator closest to the mail anyway and leaned back against it as the mailman set his mail bag on the ground.

“Waiting,” he replied belatedly, lifting his shoulders in a tired shrug.

The mailman wasn’t looking at him. Instead, he was sorting through letters and pushing them into the correct boxes. “Oh? What for? Anything nice?”

“You,” said Luffy. Somehow being out of the wind and the rain made him realise how cold he was. He blew on his hands to warm them, shifting uncomfortably from foot to foot.

At this, the mailman paused, raising an eyebrow as he looked over his shoulder at Luffy. “Why didn’t you wait inside? You’re bloody soaked. I know you’re young an’ all but you can still catch cold.”

Luffy didn’t say anything. The truth, the only answer he could have given, stuck in the back of his throat and thickened. He swallowed it down and the bad taste that lingered afterwards. Looking at the mailman only made it worse, so he looked away, out into the street. A particularly violent shiver rolled down his body.

The mailman sighed. “Did you get locked out again?” he asked softly. It wasn’t a question. “Honestly, you should get that code tattooed on you. When’s that brother of yours coming home to let you in?”

_Never._

Luffy didn’t say anything but the mailman almost didn’t seem to expect him to. He didn’t care either way. He continued to flick through the letters until he reached one that made him pause.

“Your apartment’s number forty-six, right?” he said.

_Not anymore._

“Yeah.”

“One of you get a girlfriend?” asked the mailman, gesturing towards Luffy with a letter.

Luffy’s stomach churned. He stepped forwards automatically to bring the letter’s address and addressee into view. The name of an unfamiliar woman sat atop that very familiar address. They had already filled his and Ace’s apartment. They hadn’t even given him a chance to take any more of their stuff.

“No,” he said quietly.

He wondered if any of it was still there.

“Wrong address then,” said the mailman with a shrug. “I’ll get it redirected. Nothing else here for you, kid, sorry.”

“That’s okay,” said Luffy, even though it wasn’t. Even though his heart had sunk so low in his chest that it might have been enough to fill his aching stomach. “You don’t need to redirect it.”

“Oh?” said the mailman, raising an eyebrow.

“I don’t live here anymore,” Luffy replied.

It was true. It had been true for a week now. It was a simple fact of life, a statement. But it still hurt. It hurt freshly like it was the first time he was hearing it. He supposed it was – it was the first time the words, the truth, had left his lips.

It ached. His stomach growled furiously.

“Oh,” said the mailman, somewhat surprised. “Well good for you guys – this place is a dump. You know you can get your mail redirected? Didn’t you leave a forwarding address when you moved?”

Luffy shook his head. Droplets of water sprayed in a semicircle around him.

The mailman sighed and scratched under his ear. “Hold on, let me find a pen and paper and I’ll write down your new address. Where do you want your mail to go to?”

Luffy shrugged, rubbing absently at his belly. “Dunno. S’okay, I can come get it.”

“You don’t…” Both of the mailman’s eyebrows rose, then he sighed again and chuckled an awkward laugh. “Of course you wouldn’t know your new address. Well maybe you can get your brother to write it down for you. You can set it all up online these days, hardly any need to go in anywhere anymore. What is it you’re expecting that’s so important you’ve gotta come get it anyway?”

“A letter,” said Luffy. “From our grandpa.”

“Doesn’t he know your new address?” asked the mailman, continuing to sort through the rest of the mail.

Luffy shook his head. This time, water from his hair dripped down his nose and onto the floor. “It was all sorta last minute.”

Again, Luffy’s stomach growled in protest. He tried to tense his muscles to stop it but they merely ached in response.

The mailman sighed again, rummaging through his pockets to produce a bar of chocolate. He tossed the bar in Luffy’s direction.

Luffy caught it instinctively, staring down at it dumbly like he could hardly identify what it was.

“For the journey home,” said the mailman, patting his own portly paunch. “Bought it on whim, you’d be saving me a couple o’ pounds.”

The chocolate bar sat on Luffy’s open palm like an ancient artifact sat on a cushion in a display case. Luffy regarded it with that same kind of reverence – more in fact, since he never had been one for museums.

“Thank you,” he said and his voice wobbled. He cleared his throat to mask it.

The mailman didn’t seem to notice, turning back to stuff the last couple of letters in the correct box. “You’re welcome. Wear a coat next time, you’re soaked through.”

Luffy tucked the chocolate bar into the pocket of his shorts. “Yeah,” he said.

But he didn’t have a coat to wear.

-

The other six nights, Luffy had gone to the park, climbed a tree and done what he had done countless nights at Dadan’s – hidden himself amongst the leaves of a tree and fallen asleep there. People didn’t look up much, especially at night. And if they did, a dark shape in a dark tree would mostly be mistaken for leaves.

But for the past six nights, it hadn’t rained. It had been cold, yes, but not wet, not windy. He’d been able to tuck his knees up into Ace’s hoodie and huddle for enough warmth to get him through the night.

Tonight, that was not going to be possible. He had to seek shelter tonight.

He stuck his hand in his pocket, allowing his small change to jangle against his now defunct keys. There was a twenty-four hour diner a few blocks away. He was a few beli short of a meal. He could order a drink though, a hot one, to warm him up from the inside while he sat out of the rain and became drier. Maybe he could take long enough to drink it that they wouldn’t kick him out for a while and he could take a subtle nap at the table.

But that would waste what little money he did have. That would mean he couldn’t have a meal tomorrow either. A frustrated sound escaped his lips as he walked in the general direction of the diner.

All he needed was a few more beli. He’d picked up a couple of beli from the street earlier when nobody had been around. Another couple of lucky finds like that and he could get some cooked food inside him.

His stomach grumbled in agreement. The chocolate bar from earlier hadn’t gone very far. He wished now that he had rationed it and not stuffed it all into his mouth like a chocolate-consuming gremlin. What he wouldn’t give for another square of that chocolate right now.

So no diner then. Library? He still had Sabo’s old library card from years ago tucked into his wallet. This wasn’t the same library but maybe that would count for something.

No, no it wouldn’t.

That was when he saw the alleyway. It led around the back of a restaurant from which the residual scent of food still wafted. Or perhaps Luffy was imagining it. It didn’t really matter either way; his feet were already taking him into the alleyway and out of the driving force of the wind.

Two dumpsters leaned against one wall, their lids pushed open, shielding the space between them from the rain. Jackpot.

Luffy approached without care. The lights in the restaurant and the music shop next door were both off. There was nobody to see him as he reached over the top of the nearest dumpster and peered inside.

The smell inside was not good. The dumpster had not been emptied in a few days and the leftovers languishing inside were beginning to go bad. Enough rain had fallen in the past few hours that the bottom of the dumpster was stewing into an expired food soup.

That didn’t matter to Luffy. He had a famously strong stomach and an infamously large appetite.

Under the faint light from the streetlights on the main road, he scanned the dumpster’s contents, looking for the newest and most intact bag. Finding it, he clambered up onto the lip of the dumpster and leaned in to pull it out. Still perched on the edge, his nimble fingers made quick work of the knot holding the bag closed and opened it up.

Inside the remnants of multiple meals all mingled together with discarded ingredients. For the briefest of moments, Luffy simply looked at the mess inside and thought that it looked like the most chaotic potluck he’d ever seen. It didn’t smell entirely fresh but neither did anything smell too rotten.

He chanced it; it was better than going hungry again.

Half-eaten pieces of bread, melting mashed potatoes, unwanted soggy broccoli – if it looked good enough that it wouldn’t make him sick, he scooped it out and shoved it into his mouth, swallowing before the contrasting tastes could really hit him. There was no world in which broccoli should taste like smoked fish.

A crack of lightning split the sky ahead of him, followed immediately by a loud crash of thunder. Luffy’s eyes immediately followed its progress through the sky. That action seemed to prompt the clouds to open. It had already been raining, but now the clouds tipped their buckets and the water poured down in a deluge.

Taking three chewed up chicken drumsticks of dubious quality, Luffy jumped down from the dumpster and dived into the space between that dumpster and the next.

The space growled.

Another flash of lightning illuminated a mouth full of sharp teeth, lips drawn up into a snarl. The ground under Luffy’s free hand was furry and damp.

“Um, hi?” said Luffy to the large dog, whom he had apparently woken from a nap.

The rumble of thunder did not drown out the low growl rumbling through the dog’s chest.

“Look, I’ll give you one of my pieces of chicken if you let me stay here without getting mad about it,” said Luffy, offering the dog a single chicken drumstick and stuffing the two others in his mouth.

The growling stopped abruptly. A cold nose brushed Luffy’s fingers as the dog sniffed at the offering. Then finally, with an unexpected gentleness, the dog took the drumstick between its teeth and pulled it from Luffy’s hand.

Through the darkness and over the raging storm, Luffy still could hear the crunching of the bones.

Another flash of lightning afforded him a better view of his new canine friend. It was a large dog with shaggy fur that almost seemed a dark, mossy green in the reflection from the metal sides of the dumpsters. A scraggly piece of cloth that looked like an old bandana was tied around the animal’s neck.

So someone had loved the dog. Maybe they were looking for their pet.

The dog regarded him warily but didn’t make any further sound. The deal had been accepted.

“Great,” said Luffy. “We’re friends now. What’s your name?”

He reached slowly towards the dog, fingers coming to rest against the thick fur beneath the animal’s ear.

Another low growl began deep in the animal’s chest. A flash of lightning, brighter and closer than the others, cut it off.

As the dazzling light illuminated their space, Luffy saw the chain peeking out from underneath the bandana, its end vanishing underneath the animal’s right leg and body. It wasn’t the sort of chain people normally put on their dogs. It was the sort of chain that belonged on a gate, usually accompanied by a sign with big red lettering, spelling ‘Keep Out!” and other threats.

“That doesn’t look very comfy,” he said to the dog.

The dog said nothing but didn’t resume growling either.

Luffy took the opportunity to flip the bandana up to see what the chain was attached to.

The answer was itself. The chain had been looped around the animal’s neck, tightly enough that it was half buried in thick fur. A padlock held it shut, a standard padlock. Underneath, there was a damaged collar with a circular tag that looked like it had seen better days.

Another flash of lightning allowed Luffy to see the name printed on it.

“Zoro,” he mused.

The dog’s tail thumped once.

“Is that your name?”

Another thump of the tail. The space they were both occupying was so cramped that this time, Luffy felt the surprisingly soft fur brush against his leg.

“Did your owner put this on you?” asked Luffy, rattling the chain slightly around the dog’s neck.

Zoro did growl this time. Luffy wasn’t sure if it was a response to his question or to the sudden jerking of the chain. He retracted his hand and the dog fell silent once more.

Luffy could feel the dog’s wary gaze on him as he reached into his pocket and pulled out the chocolate wrapper from earlier.

“Well,” he said to Zoro as he began folding up the wrapper. “I’m gonna take it off you. Ace taught me how to open padlocks years ago. All you need’s an old chocolate wrapper or chip bag or foil. Look, first, you gotta fold it like this. Then you hafta push it into the bit where the lock goes in.”

Surprisingly, Zoro made neither a sound nor a move as Luffy did exactly what he described.

“Then you just gotta twist it like this until-“

The lock clicked open. Zoro’s body jerked but the dog allowed Luffy to thread the padlock back through the chain and throw it into the dumpster. The chain came free. It had been on for so long that Zoro’s coat did not immediately spring back, the imprint of the chain remaining pressed into his fur.

Zoro stood then, Luffy drawing back and pressing himself against the other dumpster’s icy cold side to allow the dog space to push past him and leave if he wanted.

Zoro merely shook until the chain fell off him then a little longer just for good measure. The edge of the chain clattered against the dumpster, echoing in time to accompany a violent rumbling of thunder. Luffy noticed that its other end was attached to a thick piece of wood that might once have been a post.

The dog circled a couple of times, pushing the chain away with his paw, then curled up in the centre of their shared space. His head came to rest on top of his front paws and he looked up at Luffy like he was seeing him for the first time.

Luffy laughed and petted his head. It was surprisingly soft. “Shishishi, I bet that’s loads better.”

One of Zoro’s ears flicked in his direction. A grumbling sigh escaped him.

Luffy laughed again, petting him more exuberantly. Zoro didn’t seem to mind this so Luffy took the opportunity to bury both hands in his thick coat, feeling the warmth from the dog’s skin spread to his own.

“You’re so warm and so soft,” he said, stroking down Zoro’s neck and back.

Zoro huffed.

“How come you’re out here by yourself?” mused Luffy.

His fingers caught on Zoro’s old collar and he found himself twisting it around to the side to get a better view of the tag.

Zoro suffered this with the practised ease of an animal that knew human care and human whims.

“Zoro. If lost, please return to…” Luffy read. “So you had a home then? Were they the people who tied you up?”

The noise the dog made sounded almost like a grumble. It culminated in a wide yawn that exposed all of his sharp teeth.

Unperturbed, Luffy turned the tag over. “Shimotsuki Kuina, huh? Is she your owner?”

Zoro dropped his head onto Luffy’s shaking knee. The sudden shock of warmth against his bare skin made Luffy’s body jerk, the tag falling from between his fingers as Zoro moved.

Instead, Luffy’s fingers found the space behind Zoro’s ears and scratched gently. Zoro laid his ears down flat.

“I’m sorry,” said Luffy quietly. “She left her number but I can’t call. I got my phone but I don’t have a charger and there isn’t anywhere to charge it anyway. Maybe I can ask in a shop tomorrow or something.”

At this, Zoro did growl. He lifted his head and Luffy swore that the dog actually glared at him. Luffy didn’t speak dog; nobody spoke dog unless they were a dog. But in that moment, he swore that everything about this one said, ‘No.’

All of the lines on Zoro’s body hardened. He was resolute. His eyes, which Luffy realised now were a peculiar grey, were sad.

“Oh,” he said, smoothing down Zoro’s ears and continuing to stroke down his neck. “You don’t have a home to go back to.”

The dog’s head tilted downwards ever so slightly. Even so, he continued to meet Luffy’s gaze.

Luffy closed his eyes, smiling at his new friend in spite of it all. “That’s okay. I don’t have a place to go home to either.”

When he opened his eyes again, Zoro was still looking at him. The dog pushed the side of his face against Luffy’s hand.

“We can be homeless together,” Luffy concluded, all energy suddenly draining out of him. “I’m gonna sleep now.”

Hugging his backpack to his chest, Luffy let his body fall to the side, squeezing into the space between Zoro and the wall in order to avoid the warmth-leeching cold of the metal dumpster. Zoro got up as he did so and Luffy held his breath, expecting the dog to walk away.

For some reason, the thought of losing his new friend, even though Zoro wasn’t his and was under no obligation to stay here now that he was freed, chilled him as much as his wet clothing and gnawed at him more than hunger had earlier. It tasted worse than his scavenged dinner in the back of his throat.

But Zoro didn’t leave. The dog sat near the entrance to their little sheltered area and watched while Luffy curled himself around his backpack.

Luffy wanted to say something to him but exhaustion stilled his tongue and weighed his bones down, anchoring him to the spot. So instead he simply patted the ground beside him like he’d seen rich people do to their couches to entice a pet to join them.

Zoro continued to watch. His tail flicked like a cat’s.

“’S okay,” said Luffy, words beginning to slur with sleep. “You don’t hafta stay. But it’ll be… warmer if you do.”

For a moment, nothing happened. A fork of lightning flashed through the sky behind Zoro, illuminating his silhouette as a dark shadow. Luffy’s eyes began to close.

Zoro didn’t move until the next crash of thunder rumbled through the sky. Luffy let his eyes close fully as the dog stood up and shook himself again. The falling rain muffled the sound. He might not hear the dog’s paws as he took off into the night like this.

He didn’t. Because Zoro didn’t leave. A warm weight settled against his side. He both heard and felt the dog sigh as he laid down and got comfortable, Zoro’s breath blowing his sodden hair away from his face and making him shiver more violently.

His eyes snapped open, looking at the dog questioningly. But Zoro’s eyes were closed too. The dog wasn’t looking at him. He breathed slowly, like he was already sleeping, even though he couldn’t be because there was no way anybody could fall asleep that quickly.

Luffy pressed his face against the back of the dog’s neck, snuggling gratefully into the animal’s warmth.

Zoro sighed, tail thumping twice against Luffy’s leg.

“Thank you,” Luffy said quietly into Zoro’s fur.

And mercifully, shielded from the wind by the dog’s bulk and their dumpster shelter, slipped into unconsciousness.

**Author's Note:**

> Thank you for reading!
> 
> Please let me know your thoughts!
> 
> Law and the tagged Straw Hats will appear next chapter!


End file.
